Backstory, Part One

At some point in our scheming we decided that it would be valuable to maintain a journal of what we’ve been doing and thinking about: to tell some stories and describe some of the interesting things we run across, in a longer-format than we could do someplace like Facebook, and with more detail than someplace like Instagram.

Thus, the Coredark Notebooks: our weblog, a companion microsite to the Coredark main site, and a place where we can ramble at length on any topic that strikes our fancy …

What is Coredark?

Originally conceived as a record label to support the efforts of bands such as LabXIV and The Present Moment, Coredark has evolved into a multimedia performance collective: Coredark Laboratories — applied research in the audiovisual arts and related media.

Who are we and where did we come from?

We’ve played in bands for years. A number of us went to art school. Individually, we’ve been involved in audio engineering, game development, fashion design, large-scale art installations, video production, software engineering and more, here in downtown Los Angeles and elsewhere …

What does “coredark” mean?

Coredark is the name we’ve given to our present collective activities. But the phrase “core dark” comes from many years ago, back when Peter was in art school, studying drawing under Professor Sam Walker. When rendering three-dimensional objects (e.g., drawing in charcoal, pencil, or ink – that is to say in a subtractive color space) the form of a subject is described visually by its shadows. Therefore when rendering a curved surface, the shadows are gradients; the very center of the shadow, the darkest point, Professor Walker called … the “core dark” … this phrase resonated, for a number of reasons (which are further explored in the Manifesto) …